Buzzer Reaction

MVP: Chris Paul. While the Clippers are definitely multiple tiers above the Lakers, the All-Star guard did a fantastic job on both ends. CP3 lead the offensive attack with 23 points and 6 assists, while limiting the offensive execution of the Lakers’ backcourt.

X factor: One of the biggest candidates for Most Improved Player of the Year, DeAndre Jordan fully utilized his super-human athleticism in the Clippers’ victory. While his double-double performance (11 points, 12 boards) may be at center stage, Jordan continued to showcase his fantastic defensive abilities with four blocks.

That was … domination: LA Clippers sealed their victory when they killed off the Lakers’ biggest asset: Their perimeter offense. The Lakers currently stand as a top-5 perimeter team but the Clippers kept the Lake Show to an extremely pedestrian 22 percent from beyond the arc.

– Dakota Schmidt

Look Ma, No Pass

Turdunkin’

Tweet(s) Of The Game

Love everything the Clips do on offense except all those plays they run for Griffin midrange J’s – It helps keep the D honest, still net -

ClipperBlog Live’s Best Moment

Andrew and Fred evaluate J.J. Redick’s return to the starting lineup and debate who is the third-best player in the NBA.

Check Your Messages

Daydreams
In games like this, even a dedicated mind wonders. I kept coming back to the thought that almost everyone playing for the Lakers will be available this offseason, and they probably don’t want to leave L.A. Thanks to the Clippers, they won’t have to! Now, you’ll point to the salary cap and chemistry as good reasons that these guys should not or will not switch L.A. teams. But daydreams care for logic as little as Hubie Brown cares that the first vowel in J.J. Redick’s last name is an ‘e,’ not an ‘i,’ perhaps because J.J. looks so much like Vin Diesel.

I keep pondering: Pau Gasol could chase a ring for, say, half the mid-level exception. Jordan Hill looked great — until D.J. stepped it up in the third quarter — and the front office should be forced to create DeAndre-Jordan-Hill. That’s a nice rotation of bigs. At the other end of the bench, Darren Collison deserves to start somewhere, and he can be replaced by Kendall Marshall, who looks great in powder blue and can learn a bit from CP3. Kent Bazemore was electric while celebrating Andrew Bogut’s dirty defense and David Lee’s jump hooks on the bench; imagine his craziness for Blake Griffin and Jordan. Hell, even throw in Ryan Kelly. The Clippers haven’t had a token, mediocre, tall white guy for a while. Voila. Some veteran presence, some young legs; that’s a team that’s an automatic title favorite.

I snapped out of this reverie just in time to see Robert Sacre knocked over by a Glen Davis spin move. No doubt I missed a ton of gripping basketball.- J.D. Evans

Defending The Arc
The Lakers have defeated several elite teams this season by getting hot from the 3-point line. As such, the Clippers made it a point of emphasis to limit the Lakers’ open looks, running them off the line altogether or forcing them into contested, low-percentage looks. Overall, the Lakers shot 7-of-31 shooting (22.6 percent) from deep and never established the type of rhythm required to hang with the Clippers.- Jovan Buha at FOX Sports West

Full Clip
The Clippers debuted their 12th starting lineup of the season against the Lakers, going with Chris Paul and J.J. Redick in the backcourt, Matt Barnes and Blake Griffin at the forward spots, and DeAndre Jordan in the middle. No Clipper saw more than 32 minutes.

Except for a surplus of first-half turnovers, the Clippers’ likely starting lineup for the postseason looked very good. While Paul was effective playing off the ball next to Darren Collison, watching Redick put off-ball defenders through the hamster wheel opens the offense up so much. The five starters made 31 of 47 field goals, and while the “Laker bump” applies here, it is impressive to see that group making nearly 66 percent of their shots.

The problem now for the Clippers is allocating minutes. To me, that’s a good problem to have. Collison is an excellent handcuff to Jamal Crawford right now, and though Redick looks great, there is solid insurance in case he, Crawford or Danny Granger break down again. Jared Dudley is shooting well enough for a 10-minute role. And Glen Davis is in good enough shape (barely) to spell Griffin/Jordan for about 10-15 minutes apiece.

Having 10 players who can play 10 minutes a game isn’t a bad thing if managed properly. The 2007 San Antonio Spurs won a championship with a 10-man rotation led by All-Stars at power forward and point guard. There shouldn’t be any questions about who should start — that question was answered today. In a couple of weeks, the team should be fully healthy, and the lineup options for Doc Rivers will be an advantage going forward.- Law Murray

Jovan Buha is a staff writer and Digital Content Programmer at FOX Sports. He also contributes to ESPN Los Angeles’ Clippers and Lakers coverage. Jovan graduated from USC with a degree in Print & Digital Journalism and a minor in Sports Media Studies in 2014.

So is this dustup between Baby and Doc a paternal thing? I think Baby has added a lot of the bench. He could be playing a really important part in the playoffs. What’s your take? Is this something to worry about moving into the post-season and beyond?

Andrew Flesch

I still think the x-factor will be Granger. He may have some rust, but he will blow it up in the playoffs. I think his acquisition was the key to them winning it all this year, and going to the Conference Finals only.

Jake

Andrew says above he is picking the Clippers to win it all, which would be great if it happens, but I don’t think they have a good enough team to do that. I’m having a hard time getting a clear take on the Clippers the last couple of months. I can’t tell if the significant flaws they had last season and the first half of this season are still there and have just been hidden behind scheduling and other things or if the problems have been corrected. I lean toward thinking they are still there and have only been hidden. If that’s the case, the playoffs are going to be a tough spot to keep on hiding them.
My personal opinion is that the recent acquisitions haven’t shown much, other than it’s become clearer why their old teams bought them out.
But the playoffs themselves will start soon and so then we will see for sure whether the Clippers are actually improved or not.
I’m very much looking forward to the playoffs, not just the Clippers but all of the Western conference matchups.

Jake

This is the order that I think teams have a chance of winning it all:
1. San Antonio
2. Miami
3. Oklahoma City
4. Houston
5. Golden State
6. Clippers
7. Indiana
8. Portland

Patrick

Clippers aren’t favorites by any means but they definitely have a chance to win. If I was to assign them a percentage for them to win it all I would put them in the 10-15 % range (Miami-30, San An-20, OKC-18, Clippers-12, Indiana-10, Houston-5, split the remaining 5 among the rest). Now you may look at that and say thats awful only 12 percent but with 16 teams in the playoffs thats a pretty high number. Most of the teams really have close to no chance(Toronto’s best won’t beat Miami’s worst in a 7 game series and they are east’s 3rd seed.). And while the Clippers chance of winning a championship might rely on shooters getting hot or some nice breaks (upsets, injuries, perfect match ups,etc.) to win/avoid certain series, every other contender is relying on similar things. No team is so dominant that them simply playing at their average level will beat every teams best level.

Also Houston has a ton of injuries right now and Golden State has drama almost at Indiana’s level. Both of those teams would love to have the problems you described. They are definitely below the Clippers.

Jake

I agree with most of that.
— The Heat, Spurs and Thunder are above everybody else. But I’d put the Spurs at the top, not the Heat,.
— The Clippers, Pacers, and Rockets are bunched in the middle, though I’d put the Warriors there too. Part of me thinks the Warriors are falling apart and will be an easy opponent, but another part of me thinks they may finally start playing top level basketball like many people expected them to do all season. I’m not going to be surprised if it goes either way with them, though I think there’s a slightly higher chance they’ll do well and surprise most people. As for the Rockets, I’m expecting Howard to be super in the playoffs and dominate the inside, and inside domination, especially on defense, often is a key to winning in the playoffs. But maybe not.

Patrick

Yah I also believe the Spurs are the better team. However the Spurs will have a much harder road just getting to the finals while the Heat are going to have a relative cakewalk. Only reason why I gave them a higher percentage (which is totally hypothetical BS). I agree with everything else, and if Howard isn’t injured he should do just that.

Clips4

I think your panic is a little premature. The team has dealt with injuries all year long to key players and we have not ye seen this team at full strength. Our main flaw is still the backup center. Having Granger has been good because of his length and activity. I would love to see a Granger/Barnes combo get more minutes when Redick comes out. The problem now is that this team is so deep, finding consistent minutes for everyone is rough. We have upgraded our athleticism but that remains to be seen. We have beaten some top tier teams this year without being at full strength. That in and of itself is an encouraging sign.

Jake

There’s a lot of truth to what you say, but I’m still wary of them, especially on defense. That unknown element is, for me, what’s going to make the playoffs so interesting this year.

just win

I would like 2 see big baby hollins granger collision and hedo 2gether, I think they may be useful come playoffs time, depends on how well granger plays he needs to make open shots